Following the election of serving Prime Minister and AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the 12thPresident of Turkey, Davutoğlu was announced by the AKP Central Executive Committee as a candidate for the party leadership.[2][3] He was unanimously elected as leader during the first AKP extraordinary congress and consequently succeeded Erdoğan as prime minister, forming the 62nd Government of the Turkish Republic.[4][5] His cabinet was dominated by Erdoğan's close allies such as Yalçın Akdoğan; this led to speculation that he would take a docile approach as prime minister while Erdoğan continued to pursue his own political agenda as president.[6][7] The AKP lost its parliamentary majority in the June 2015 general election, though it remained the largest party. Davutoğlu's government subsequently resigned but stayed in power until a new government could be formed. After undertaking a series of unsuccessful coalition negotiations with opposition parties, Davutoğlu was tasked with forming Turkey's first-ever interim election government, which presided over snap elections scheduled for November 2015. The AKP regained its parliamentary majority in November after a landslide victory, with Davutoğlu subsequently forming his third government.

Following a deterioration in relations between Davutoğlu and Erdoğan over their disagreements regarding parliamentary candidate lists, government policy and the implementation of an executive presidential system of government, Davutoğlu announced his resignation as AKP leader and Prime Minister seven months after his November 2015 general election victory. He announced that an Extraordinary party Congress would be held on 22 May 2016 and that he would not stand for re-election for the party leadership.[8][9][10][11] He was succeeded as leader by Binali Yıldırım and tendered his resignation as Prime Minister soon afterward.[12]

His publications include Alternative Paradigms: The Impact of Islamic and Western Weltanschauungs on Political Theory, The Civilizational Transformation and The Muslim World in English, Stratejik Derinlik (Strategic Depth), and Küresel Bunalım (The Global Crisis) in Turkish.
His book Strategic Depth is a very influential book in Turkey's foreign policy orientation, even becoming a bestseller in Greece in July 2010.[20] He is very influential in the military, academic, and government triangle shaping Turkish foreign policy.[21] In addition to Turkish, he speaks English, German, Arabic and Malay.

Advisor to the prime minister

Davutoğlu became Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's chief foreign policy advisor after the latter became prime minister, developing the Justice and Development Party's new foreign policy outlook that would bring Turkey to play a larger role in the Middle East. His position as chief advisor coincided with the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, with Davutoğlu co-ordinating Turkish responses to ongoing military efforts in Turkey's neighbouring country. In 2007, he stated that Turkey was against the United States troops entering Northern Iraq, with his opposition originating from the Kurdish separatist movements in that area.[22]